Slack adjuster



Jan. 6, 1925- y 1,522,276

y w. H. SAUVAGE SLACK ADJUSTER Filed March 8, 19.25

Q Q l APatented Jan. 6, 1925.

A.WrriIanni/i, lH. sAUveeE, e oraivawlfvcai, m. ,Y., assie1\ioa,. isY .Masini ..ASSIGNMENTs -mo.eouiincoiiiatiie o oiiraiwor Yoann. Y-

singoli 5ADJUSTER.

Applicantiondifiied liflarchu8, 1323. Sveial'la 623,673.v

T 0 all whom z't .may concern.' y

Be itlln'own 'that VILLIAM H. Saumon,

a citizen of` the* United States, 4 residing 'rat New`Yorl in the county ofNew'York and State of New Yorkllh-a's" invented Y' certain new and usefulv I mprovementsiii SlaclrAd ljusters'7 of'jvhich" the following a'y specifi- `movable`parts, the effective lengthff'which member is adapted' to be'varied'to vtalkie'V up the slack in the brake rigging, being"somewhat similar to theibottomfiod construction shown in `my prior patents,No. 1,227,956

.be easily vchanged in length as the 'weaof the parts Vnecessitates yand which may also be readily'readjnsted 'when it is desired: to restore the parts tonormal position.

Other objects ,will bey in part 4obvious and in part hereinafterQpointed ou't'in connec- 't'ion withfthe accompanying"drawings "illustrating one 4of various possible vembodiments of the invention an'dinv'the 'several views Vof which similar reference,characters `denote corresponding Lpartsl In ,thesejdr'awingsi i f Y Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a'bottorn rod construction;` Figure 2 is a 4plan view 'theieof;rand

Figure' is a cross sectional view taken approximately on ,theline 8-3' of 'Figurie'l Thilo the vpresent invention will hereinafter be described with'relation to its application to a bottom llrod construction, which is adapted to' be elongated as theavear of the Aparts necessitatela taking up of the slack in the brake rigging,'it is, of course, to be understood that this mechanism may be placed between any two relatively movable parts of the brake rigging where the effective length of the connecting part is lor 11 or 18 arelthen restored and desired to be varied, as wear of ythebrakeshoes or other portions of the brake rigging necessitates such variation.l

""'Referring now to the drawing in detail,

it mayfbe assumed that 5 yand 6 denote reispectiv'ely the live and v,dead levers of the brake rigging 1of an ordinary 'car truck, and between the lower ends of these brake levers yis applied the bottom rod construction rod-like 'member 10V pivo'ted at 11 to the lower Iendgofthe ,dead lever* `The member 10 telescopes oiiits within vthe tubular mem- Vber 7 and is provided for ap'ortio'n. ofits 'length withijatchet `teeth 125 adaptedV to be engaged by apawl l'pivoted'rat lllwithin a housingl. The pawl 1.3 is normally urged into'l engagement vwith the teethf 12 by means of a =spring 16 riveted as at17 to the pawl. In this manner, itwill be seenthatv as the member 10 moves relatively outwardly or towards the right withrespect'to the tubular member 7 the pawl 13 will engage with the teeth 12 -in such a manner as ttopre'vxent a subsequent relative inward movement thereof. e

lAfter the brakes have been in `use vfor some considerable time itisyo-f course; necessary to replacethe Vworn'brake shoes',` at which time vtheparts shown iii-Figure 1 mustebe'restored to'th'eir nori'iial position. l In order to easily and quickly accomplish this one orthe' other of they pivots 8 `or 11 'or swivel pin 18 is removed,- thereby permittingV eit'ier the part 7 or v10 Vto' b e` turned yrelatively to the other. [A `quarter turn Vof such movement will cause the pawl oli-dog- 13 to' rise upwardly `out 'off engagement with the teeth after which the par't'l() may betelescopefd withinfthe part 7 and when the Vreleased `part is again rotated back tor normal position the pawl 13 .will immediately fall into the proper recess. Y` The 'pins 8 the device is ready for further use. y

It will thus be seenthat the present iiivention provides a simple and' practical connecting fro'd `for in't'erposition"between two relatively movable parts of a brake rigging, the effective length of which is to be altered as desired to take up the slack in the brake rigging as wear occurs.

which comprises a tubular member pivoted f at Sto the lower end ofthe live lever and a It will be noted particularly that the pawl 13 has a rounded rear end co-acting with the wall of the housing 15 throughout a relatively large part rof its circumference, there by forming a strong, durable and substantial abutment to take up the strains exerted upon the pawl by reason of the tremendous pressures exerted during the application of the brakes.

It will, of course,.be understood that the invention as herein shown is directed primarily to the bottom rod construction and any of the numerous forms of temporary take-up mechanism described in my previous patents may be applied to cooperate with this bottom rod foi` changing the effective length either before or after the irakes are released.

I claim:

l. In a device of the character described, in combination, two te-lescoping members, one of which is provided with teeth and adapted to lit within the other, a pawl pivotally mounted in an extension upon one of said members and co-acting with said teeth said pawl having an enlarged portion coacting with the wall of said extension, and spring means for holding said pawl in en gagement with the teeth.

2. In a device of the character described, in combination, a` tubular member having a housing formed therewith, a pawl pivotally mounted in said housing and having its rear end abutting one of the walls of said housing thereby to take up the strain exerted thereon during'application of the brakes.

3. In a device of the character described, in combination, a tubular member having a housing` formed therewith, a pawl pivotally mounted in said housing and having its rear end abutting one of the walls of said housing thereby to take up the strain exerted thereon during the application of the brakes, and a rod-like member co-acting with said tubular member provided with ratchet teeth adapted to be engaged by the pawl.

4t. In a device of the character described, in combination, a tubular member having a housing formed therewith, a pawl pivotally mounted in said housing and having its rear end abutting one of the walls of said heus ingthereby to take up the strain exerted thereon during application of the brakes, and a member co-acting with said tubular member provided with ratchet teeth adapted to be engaged by the pawl, said rod-like member being concentricallyl disposed with respect to the tubular member, whereby a rotation thereof will throw said pawl out of engagement with the teeth and permit relaligive inward movement of the rod-like mem-v 5. In a device of the character described, in combination, a two-part telescoping push rod comprising a tubular member adapted to be connected with a brake lever, a rod like member adapted to be pivotally connected to another brake lever, one of said members being provided with a pawl, the other of said members being provided with ratchet teeth, and a spring joined to said pawl and engaging said tubular member and adapted to hold said pawl in engagement with the ratchet teeth said pawl having au enlarged end portion co-acting with the wall of said tubular member.

6. In a device of the character described, in combination, a two-part telescoping push rod comprising a tubular member adapted to be connected with a brake lever, a rodlike member adapted to be pivotally connected to another brake lever, one of said members being provided with a pawl, the other of said membersbeing provided with ratchet teeth, and a spring on said pawl adapted to hold saidy pawl in engagement with the ratchet teeth, said pawl having an enlarged portion abutting on the wall of said tubular member said tubular member and rod-like member being concentrically disposed whereby a rotation of one with respect to the other will automatically throw the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet teeth. Y

7. In a device of the character' described, in combination, a two-part telescopic push rod comprising an inner and outer member, the outer member being' provided with a housing, a pawl pivotally mounted in said housing and` having its rear end on one of the walls of said housing, ratchet teeth on the innerpart of said two-part push rod adapted to be engaged by the nose of the pawl, the adjacent surface of the inner and outer membetrs being concentric whereby a relative rotation of one part with respect to the other will automatically disengage the pawl from the ratchet teeth.

8. In a device of the character described, in combination, a tubular member having a housing formed therewith, a pawl pivotally mounted in said housing and having its rear end abutting one of the walls of said housing thereby to take up the strain exerted Vthereon during application of the brakes,

said inner member being pointed at its free end to permit easeof assembly.

In testlmony whereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM sauvasn 

